Dead Horse

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Monday, April 9, 2012

WotC, 5E update from pax.



I previously said 5E aint for me and i wouldnt talk about it. I just want to point a few things out from the video floating around. Mike Merls main points are listed below.
What I dont like is they are acting like thier R&D figured this out. Any gamer who has played the older editions could have spelled all this out.

Campaign settings as modules that can alter core rules.
What a brainstorm on this one. This has only been happening since the first D&D supplaments. (Hello Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldrich Wizardry)

Grids and minis optional in the core.
They are throwing a bone to the old schoolers and the people who cant afford minis.

Will not let the wizard overpower martial classes.
This one boggles my mind. Why play a wizard? if martial classes can do the same damage why be a weak robe wearer when you can wear armor and have grobs of hit points?

About 20% done and on 4th iteration of DND Next.
This sounds like they are at least trying different things. Playing out some options and then deciding on what gos into the final draft.

focus on non-combat roles and abilities returning.
Nice that the next generation of the game might try to roleplay instead of rollplaying.

Giving more power back to the DM.
This one truely boggles my mind. Your the DM, its your world...how much power do you need? You have it all allready!

Bringing back step-by-step adventure creation instructions.
While i can appreciate helping new DMs craft adventures..... This sounds alot like roll on a random table. pick a monster roll on a table... pick a motive, roll on a table.  If you DM and can not make your own adventures... i dunno download or buy one! There are hundreds to choose from.

Focus on shorter games.
After the last 2 editions 2,3, or 4 hour long combats i can hardly wait to see how long it takes to fight in 5e.

Skill challenges not in core.
Aww no more "how many dice do i need to roll to solve this problem gaming?"

No info on public playtest date.
Give it time, shortly it will come then soon followed by 4 players hand books and 5 DM guides.

At-will spells have a pretty huge following.
Of course they do, munchkinism has always been popular. Why would handing the players more power be not popular?

WHats the saying about pleasing all the people all of the time?

2 comments:

  1. I think a lot of the stuff they talked about was really undoing 4e and rolling it back to some version or 3e (It's Monte's ball these days, and he's the guy that gave us 3e)

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